Virsliga season 2024 is over and what a ride it's been! RFS won the League and the Cup, Valmiera almost ceased to exist, and Daugavpils made a legitimate run for Europe! We sit down to review the ups and the downs, to reflect on our start-of-season predictions and review how our 'players to watch' did, to award our season awards, and to ponder on what to look forward to next year! (00:02:05) End-of-season table review (00:19:25) Reflecting on our start-of-season predictions (00:25:44)...

We sit down with one of the Metta Academy coaches - James Prieditis, former coach at Huddersfield, Rochdale and Burnley - to talk about Latvian football, youth development, things to consider when picking an academy for your child, and about his extraordinary connection with Latvia. *please note that the original interview was about twice longer, but we lost half the footage due to a technical glitch :( Would you like to look as slick as James? Our friends at Manscaped have you covered with...

Matchday 3 of Europa League 2024/2025 is here and RFS are heading out to Germany, to play one of the most formidable teams on their fixture list - Eintracht Frankfurt. A club with 125 year history and a 58000 capacity stadium, which is expected to be sold out, is a proper powerhouse of European football. To learn more about them, their style of play, and their famous fans, we are joined by Oliver Schliegl, a football agent and former CEO of Latvian Virsliga, to share his unique experience of...

With only four rounds to go, there is no shortage of drama and excitement remaining in Virsliga 2024! Whether it is last minute coach changes at Riga FC, seemingly unbeatable RFS, emergent Metta and resurgent Liepaja, failing Valmiera or Grobina in a free-fall, the conclusion of this season is promising to be emotional! (02:50) Riga rumours and Simo Valakari departure (09:45) The Latvian Cup - all that happened, scores and misfortunes (14:00) The cup curses - PPK and Grobina (20:55)...

Europa league is underway and one of the largest clubs in the world is about to visit Riga for RFS’s first home fixture at the almost fully sold out Daugava stadium. We are, of course, talking about Turkish Galatasaray! To learn about what we could expect from visiting supporters, as well as to catch up on how Galatasaray currently play, their strengths and weaknesses, Frank sat down with Ahmet Atasoy of the Tottiler Messiler podcast (@messiler)! Our friends at Manscaped have a range of new...

RFS, Auda, Riga FC and Liepaja delivered a long and generally very successful qualification campaign in Europe, culminating with RFS making history by qualifying for the Europa League league stage, where they will face Galatasaray, Anderlecht, PAOK, Ajax, FCSB, Eintracht Frankfurt and Maccabi Tel-Aviv! But with all this excitement, we feel that Virsliga got a bit neglected, so, in this episode, we catch up on what's been going on during the summer! (00:00) Table update (19:57) Niang to...

And then there was one! With Auda unable to hold on to their first leg advantage against FC Drita from Kosovo and losing 3-2 in the second leg away, it is now up to RFS to represent Latvia in Europe! And they will whatever the outcome of the final qualification round but, having already qualified for the Conference League, wouldn't it be nice to up the ante and take it all the way to the Europa League? With only the Cypriot champions APOEL in the way, we are joined by Stel from the This...

We continue to reflect on how Latvian clubs performed in the European competitions, where three Riga teams played against clubs from Norway, Poland, and Northern Ireland: Bodo/Glimt, Śląsk Wrocław, and Cliftonville. One game won, one game lost, and one game broke our hearts... We then look ahead to the upcoming Europa league QR3 match between FC RFS and Andorran champions UE Santa Coloma, and Frank interviews Eljon Kastrati of Kosovo Football (@FootballKosovo) about FK Auda's Conference...

European cup qualification rounds 1 are behind us and the highlight is RFS breaking the 15-year long curse of Latvian clubs not progressing past QR1 of the Champions League by convincingly beating Northern Irish Champions Larne FC 7-0 on aggregate! FK Auda also made history by winning their first ever European game and by progressing through a European qualification round for the first time, beating Faroese B36 Torshavn 3-0 on aggregate. Liepaja didn't make it (unsurprisingly) and Riga FC...

Champions of Northern Ireland - Larne FC - have been drawn as Champions League Qualification Round 1 opponents of Latvian Champions FC RFS. But who are this red and white team from just north of Belfast and what are they all about? We are joined by Brian Haveron, a Larne FC supporter of more than 50 years, to introduce us to his club, it's history, and it's role in the local community of just under 20000 residents. For a more analytical approach, check out this analysis by our friend at...

Baltic Cup - contested every two years by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - is the second (or third) oldest international competition in the world, and the oldest one still running. Older than the FIFA World Cup by 2 years and than UEFA EUROs by 30 years, the Baltic Cup is a fascinating event that not only mirrors the histories of the three Baltic states, but also features some of the most hilarious controversies you'll find in international football. To learn more about all this, we are...

Much has happened during the international break, which brought us to the halfway point of Virsliga 2024. In this episode, we catch up on the competition and the surrounding news, as well as take a first look at the Champions League and the Conference League draws for the Latvian clubs. (00:01:05) Table update (00:09:24) FC RFS - Riga FC, the Big Riga Derby (00:13:54) Kalns leaves Valmiera FC for Visakha FC (00:20:09) Almeida sacked from FK Auda, replaced by Zeljkovic (00:24:44) Transfer...

Who are the supporter groups - the Ultras - of Virsliga? In this episode, we delve into the very public yet poorly understood and, in some cases, deliberately concealed world of Latvian Ultras to find out more about who they are, how they function and what they are all about. Additionally, we are joined by football statistician David Parkes to talk about what are club and league coefficients and how they affect clubs and fans from season to season. All of this, of course, after we catch up on...

Virsliga 2024 is up and running and we sit down to look back at the first five rounds of what is proving to be a truly unpredictable, dynamic and highly competitive league this year! We also put FK Liepaja under the microscope and discuss possible causes of their poor performance as well as offer our Best XI for March-April.  (00:01:02) Reflections on the first 5 rounds (00:10:41) Impactful players (00:17:51) Teams to watch (especially if you are new to the league!) (00:21:35) What's wrong...

Virsliga 2024 is upon us and so is the second year of the podcast. In this episode, we introduce some changes to the format and composition of the show, talk about major news from pre-season, and introduce the upcoming eight months of highly anticipated Latvian club football! We think this is going to be the best season yet, so tune in to find out why! (00:00) New cast and new format (02:44) Paolo Nicolato - new Latvia coach (07:51) The failed Leevon Saldus takeover (11:32) Livonian Winter...

As the first run of the Livonian Winter League - an international pre-season competition between 24 Latvian and Estonian clubs - comes to a close with a narrow victory for Latvia, we sit down with the Estonian Football Podcast to reflect on the competition, the good and the bad things about it, as well as to have a general chat about the state of Latvian and Estonian association football, not forgetting to briefly discuss the Baltic League idea and the Estonian resistance to it. Tune in,...

The Baltic League is a pioneering cross-border league project within the UEFA, meant to unite and enlarge the football markets and competitive levels of Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian clubs. But while there are many things that make a great deal of sense about the proposal spearheaded by the Latvian Virsliga, many questions, concerns and even sources of political resistance remain. Pivoting off of the Livonian Winter League, Nick Ames, The Guardian's European sport correspondent, travelled...

What does the Virsliga look like to a Latvia-based Welshman and how did he come to support Valmiera FC? Frank Marr joins the show to talk about his love of football, the good and the bad things about Latvian football and the Latvian National Team (NB. this episode was recorded before the appointment of Paolo Nicolato), and about his vision for the future growth of association football in Latvia and in the Baltics!

Dmitrijs sits down with Charlotte Patterson, an avid football fan and prolific reader, writer, scout, commentator and media manager for Durham City AFC, to find out how she discovered Latvian Virsliga, what she likes and does not like about it, and why Riga is a surprising yet very worthwhile football getaway destination! Charlotte's book recommendations: Titans of the Teardrop Isle: A Season as a Pro Footballer in Sri Lanka, by Seth BurkettUp Pohnpei: Leading the ultimate football underdogs...

In this new segment, Dmitrijs sits down with Ben Griffis to find out what Virsliga looks like from the outside (of Latvia). We talk about how Ben, himself from the USA, discovered Latvian football and the Virsliga, what he likes or does not like about it, as well as his work with football data and which of Virsliga teams is the closest to his heart. Ben Griffis is a football analyst perhaps best known for his work with data and statistical model-building, which he shares on social media (on...

We are joined by Guntars Indriksons for a long and candid conversation about the state of Latvian football. Guntars is one of the most prolific Valmiera FC fans, a former manager of Skonto Stadium and a former member of the Latvian FA Infrastructure Development Committee. Tune in for an uncensored view of the good, the bad, the ugly and the hopeful of Latvian football! (00:00) Guntars Indriksons - football man, Valmiera fan (04:52) Latvian National Team (11:05) Latvia vs Wales (16:16)...

In part 2 of our end-of-season-review, we talk about who we thought were the best players and the biggest surprises, as well as reflect on our beginning of the season predictions and on whether we thought 2023 was a step forward for Virsliga or not. (01:05) Looking back at our predictions (11:28) Virsliga 2023 Best XI (36:56) Best Young Player (38:32) Biggest Flop (44:47) Biggest Surprise (46:59) Virsliga 2023 MVP (49:05) Coaches, goalkeepers, and yellow cards (52:58) Is Virsliga developing?

Virsliga 2023 is over, so it’s time to reflect on how it ended, who won (or lost) what, who scored how many goals. In this first episode, we talk about the final standings and the top scorers. (00:00) How it all ended (07:07) FK RFS and Riga FC (10:49) FK Auda (15:37) Valmiera FC (21:56) FK Liepaja (28:42) FS Jelgava (34:07) BFC Daugavpils (38:01) FK Tukums 2000/Telms (42:35) FK Metta (49:03) SK Super Nova Salaspils (56:09) Top scorers

Latvian Cup 2023 is over and Riga FC had won it in a penalty shoot-out against their arch rivals - RFS. Join us as we sit down right after the match to reflect on how it went and on what we can look forward to!